The Marauders
by Lucy-Clay
Summary: The story of James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily and Severus through all of their years at Hogwarts. Uses all of the above as narrators.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1-James**

This was it; they were finally leaving for Hogwarts. He had waited all of his life for this moment and now that it had arrived, James wasn't disappointed in the slightest. In all honesty, he had been so eagerly awaiting this, that he had completely forgotten to wave at his tearful parents who were standing on the platform, their arms raised in farewell, already missing their beloved son.

Now that they were out of King's Cross, there was a lot of commotion in the corridors as people fought their way through the crowds in order to reach the best compartments. A knock sounded at the door as a small, weedy boy slid it open. He was ugly, James thought immediately as he noticed the resemblance to a rat on his pointed features.

"Please may I sit with you?" he addressed the compartment at large, obviously too afraid to direct his request at an individual. James nodded, as did Remus and Sirius. Remus moved over in order to allow the newcomer some room. His eyes gazed around the compartment as he took in the three boys and the ginger haired girl whose face none of them had seen since they had entered the carriage. From the sobbing noises she was making, James guessed she had been crying. He didn't know why though, but at the moment he couldn't care, he was thrilled that he was finally on the Hogwarts Express.

He zoned back into the conversation around him in which the volume seemed to have risen. They were talking about Hogwarts.

"I can't wait!" Sirius exclaimed in answer to something that Remus had said.

"For what?" James asked, eager to be included in the conversation.

"The food of course!" Sirius answered as his handsome face lit up, defining his features.

"My parents said that it's brilliant," James verified. "Apparently there are hundreds of house-elves working in a kitchen somewhere. I'd love to find them."

"That would be cool," James could see Sirius imagining all of the food they would be able to steal if they found the house-elves.

"I wish we had a house-elf," Remus mused, more to himself than anyone else. He seemed quite shy, James noted, surprised even that he was sat around other people, having a conversation. If he hadn't have mentioned that about house-elves, James wouldn't have been surprised if he was a muggle born. On the other hand, he had no idea what to think of the newcomer, Peter or whatever he was called.

Just then, a boy pressed his nose to the tiny glass windows in the compartment door before opening it and stepping inside. As soon as he saw him, James could tell that he was going to dislike this boy. His hair was greasy and his nose long and hooked. He looked rough, like he needed a good wash and his poor manners had already irritated James. He could see by the expression on Sirius' face that he was thinking the same. Inwardly, James smiled. He could see how similar he and Sirius were.

The greasy boy took in everyone in the carriage, from James' smirk, Remus' quite composure, Peter's hunched up form and Sirius' lounged out frame. Then he looked at the girl in the corner and sat opposite her. They obviously knew each other as she lifted her head to talk to him.

James turned back to their conversation which was still centring around house-elves. He wasn't really interested anymore; a lot more interested with what the greasy kid would want to say to this harmless and timid looking girl.

Their conversation was quite dull, about how this girl was obviously a muggle born. However, James found his opening as he heard the boy utter the words "You'd better be in Slytherin."

"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" James asked Sirius, hoping that his new friend would make a dig at this greasy kid.

"My whole family have been in Slytherin," Sirius admitted not seeming fazed by this in the slightest.

"Blimey," James was shocked, "and I thought you seemed alright!" Sirius grinned at his words.

"Maybe I'll break the tradition," he looked hopeful and James was just glad hat this boy had a sense of humour. They were more alike than he had dared to hope for. "Where are you heading if you have the choice?"

"Gryffindor where dwell the brave at heart! Like my Dad," James drew an imaginary sword as he spoke, revelling in his make believe glory. The greasy child made a snort at that and James felt a rush of pride. He had annoyed this child. Obviously his family were _that_ type.

Knowing that now would be the perfect opportunity to infuriate this boy even further, James asked "Do you have a problem with that?" hoping beyond hope that he did.

"No," he sneered. Just a cover up, James assured himself. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy— "

"Where are you hoping to go seeing as you're neither?" Sirius cut in and James' face lit up. He was so grateful for Sirius' cover up. He had saved some humour at James' expense and managed to carry on his joking. James couldn't help it, he roared with laughter and amidst his gasps for air, he noticed the ginger girl sit up straight, her face flushed with anger. However, the look didn't go well with her blood shot eyes, red from crying and that just made James laugh harder. She looked between him and Sirius with a look of pure hatred before turning back to the greasy child.

Come on Severus, let's find another compartment."

"Ooooooooo," both boys taunted as they stood up and crossed to the door. James stuck his leg out as the boy who was named Severus—no wonder he looked so angry at life—passed. Unluckily, at the last second he spotted it and jumped over with surprising agility for a boy who looked so un-sporty. He slammed the door closed with a great force as a shout of "See ya, Snivellus," followed them out. James looked around for the speaker and found that it was Remus, the quiet boy. He was shocked, but then grinned an identical grin to the one that was lighting up Sirius' face.

"We're going to have fun with him," Sirius voiced James' thoughts and the three of them nodded. Only the new boy, Peter looked unconvinced as he agreed half heartedly. James threw a sidelong glance at Sirius, conveying his thoughts that they should ditch Peter at first chance. Sirius gave the tiniest nod in reply. He'd understood.

The rest of the journey to Hogwarts passed in a happy blur. After an hour of happy chatter Remus produced a pack of exploding snap and once they had exhausted the game, they decided to attempt to build a tower out of the cards. All of them proved quite adept at this except Peter who knocked the half completed tower down when he finally plucked up the courage to place a card on top and shying away from the disappointed stares directed at him from the other three, he hunched up in a corner, stating that he preferred to watch than play.

It took a surprising amount of effort and skill to balance the cards without an explosion, but eventually only one card remained.

"You do it," Remus passed the last card to James, suddenly sharing Peter's fear of being the one to knock the whole thing over.

"Wimp," James grabbed the card and hit Remus with it teasingly as he strategically scrutinised the whole tower, working out where the best position was. He seemed to settle on just going for the top of the whole thing and so stretched out his arm in order to place it on top. When he succeeded and the tower still refused to explode, the other three cheered and James performed a mock bow. Even Peter was clapping, an expression of genuine excitement lighting up his face.

Just then someone slid the compartment door back and the gush of air that rushed into the compartment made a couple of the cards flutter and that was it. BANG! The whole thing had exploded. The elderly woman who was standing in the doorway looked slightly shocked at her less than welcome greeting, but the boys weren't bothered about the tower which was now in ashes on the floor. They had caught sight of the trolley that she was pushing. It was piled high with sweets and chocolate of all kinds and the four of them delved into their pockets in order to try and find some money to spend on the sweets.

Naturally, James was the first to succeed as his family was of a lot of wealth. He purchased an abundance of chocolate frogs and sat back down, satisfied with his purchase.

Sirius came next and he bought a couple of packs of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, some cauldron cakes and liquorice wands. That left Peter and Remus who were both short of a good sum of money to buy some fizzing whizbees.

All content with their purchases, they spread them out on the seat that Severus had recently occupied and all took what they wanted. The chocolate frog cards were shared around as well the pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans which contained a few normal flavours but also had a goblin sick flavour that Remus had to spit out and Sirius was surprised by his frog spawn flavour. However, James and Peter managed with normal flavours like cauliflower and spinach which may have been slightly on the disgusting side but could have been a lot worse.

On the whole, when the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station and the driver came over the speakers telling everybody to leave their luggage on the train, James was quite sad to be leaving this brilliant journey behind. The feeling didn't last long though because when he caught sight of the close up mountains he remembered exactly where they were headed and followed the crowd of students onto the platform. Today was the day that his whole childhood had been leading up to and he wasn't disappointed in the slightest.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2-Sirius**

They disembarked on a tiny platform that looked as though it would buckle under the weight of the hundreds upon hundreds of students flocking out onto it like bees that had been cooped up for two long and wanted to break free. There was a happy chatter in the air which was warm and humid although the sun had long since dipped blow the horizon.

Sirius searched around himself for James and the others, but he must have lost them in the mad scramble in the corridors so he allowed himself to be swept up with the crowd and forced his feet to follow the way of everyone else's.

However, a shout of "First years over here!" made him turn his head in order to catch the speaker. He was shocked when he noticed him because of the sheer height of the man—was he a man? He must have been double the height of the average person and the hand that was holding a lantern aloft looked as big as a bin lid. Sirius struggled to break free of the crowd that was still sweeping along the platform and he had to burrow between people in order to finally reach the giant. Around him there were around thirty other frightened first years who all seemed too terrified of this man to want to talk.

Sirius noticed James and the others and wandered over to them, conscious of the giant's eyes following him. Surely he wouldn't do him any harm. However, as he attempted to gain a closer look, he saw that this man seemed to be smiling a soft smile that didn't match with his wild features and tangled mess of a beard.

Once Sirius had taken his place beside James, the giant must have realised that there were no other first years to arrive and so took off along the platform. His steps were huge and the small group of new students were all casting furtive glances at one another, trying to work out if they were meant to run to catch up with him or not. No one seemed keen on the idea though, especially not in robes and so they all settled for a fast walk that no where near matched the pace of the giant. However, he must have looked back and noticed that they were straggling behind and so he decided to slow down in order to allow them to catch up.

Finally, the walk ended and the first years found themselves crowded around a lake. They stared down at the water which appeared black in the waning light yet was as still as glass. A small fleet of boats were crowded in front of them and the giant waved the group forwards, indicating that they should all get into them.

Remus immediately walked off to search for an empty boat, but Sirius noticed that the one holding Severus and the girl remained unoccupied apart from the two of them. Not wanting to draw attention to the fact that he wanted to join them, Sirius set off towards that boat and clambered in, taking in the identical grimaces mirrored on each face as they recognised who he was and what this meant.

Back on the side of the lake however, Sirius could see James searching around for him and so he waved in an attempt to draw his attention. It was Peter who actually caught sight of Sirius' flailing arms and tapped James to grab his attention. Sirius watched James turn and then saw how he grinned at the sight of Sirius' companions. His three new friends wandered over to him and Sirius had a moment where he felt happier than he ever had before. Living with his family was a terrible thing; he hated everyone in his family except from his cousin Andromeda and was even glad that his parents favoured Regulus, his brother. It at least meant that they didn't look twice at him. But now he had found friends who seemed genuinely kind. Sirius sincerely hoped that he was placed in Gryffindor. This would anger his family beyond belief. He just hoped that his friends would be in his house and these two children beside him weren't. The girl didn't seem so bad though, he thought as James climbed in beside him much to the annoyance of Severus. He was followed by Peter and Remus who were the last out of the group to get into a boat. Then the giant yelled "Forwards!" and the little fleet of boats began to glide like swans along the clear lake.

Sirius had a mad urge to throw Severus overboard but he resisted as the thought of Hogwarts loomed in his mind. He would probably never even see the place if he did such a thing. He guessed that he might even end up in Azkaban for killing another person, but he refused to let himself think of the Wizard prison. It gave him the creeps.

So to keep himself from fantasizing about throwing Severus overboard, Sirius began to think about the food at Hogwarts again.

"Heads down!" the giant yelled and they all ducked in order to miss the underground tunnel that slipped out of the fog to greet them. When the giant finally told the group that they could look up again, Sirius' neck was aching from having to bend it and as he stretched it out he heard an almighty sigh of "Ohhhhh!" escaping from everyone's lips. He looked in front of him wildly, afraid that he was missing some form of spectacular firework show in their honour, but what he laid his eyes on was much better. There, on a tall outcrop of rock lay Hogwarts castle. It was made up of many turrets and towers, contained thousands of windows which were all currently brightly lit. It was the most beautiful thing that Sirius had ever seen and he found himself longing to be inside. As soon as he saw it, he knew that he had found his true home.

The other occupants of the boat were also gazing, mesmerised by the castle. Remus looked shocked whereas Severus' mouth was gaping open like a fish. Sirius laughed to himself.

"Bet you've never seen anything as beautiful as that have you, Snivellus?" he asked.

"Oh yeah and by the look of you you're so much better off!" Severus returned much to the amusement of James.

"Well by the look of—" but James never finished because the ginger girl cut across him.

"Why don't you all leave him alone? What's he ever even done to you?"

"Live," James offered much to her annoyance. She raised her head as though she was superior to them and turned away looking haughty. Sirius was almost glad that the boat ride was over and when they docked he was the first to scramble out of the boat. The others followed and they all walked after the giant as he led them up the magnificent front doors of the castle where he knocked three booming knocks before stepping back to wait.

They waited. And they waited. Sirius was beginning to think that no one had heard the booming raps on the door when it opened to reveal a middle aged witch with her black hair scraped back into a severe bun. A hat was placed on top of her head and she was frowning a deep frown.

Her face softened as she spoke to the giant. "Thank-you Hagrid, I will take them from here." He nodded and she signalled for them all to follow her inside.

If the outside of Hogwarts had managed to take Sirius' breath away then it was nothing like the interior. The entrance hall would have snugly managed to fit ten cathedrals inside and the marble staircase that wound up the left hand side looked as well polished as a spotless mirror. The ceiling was as high as his whole house and for a moment Sirius stood there in awe, simply taking in his surroundings. He hadn't realised that he had stopped until James nudged him to get him started walking again.

They crossed the magnificent entrance behind the strict-looking witch who opened a door that Sirius hadn't noticed and stood back in order to let the first years file past and into the relatively small and plain room.

Once they were all inside se stood at the front and gazed around at them all with an unsatisfied expression plastered on her face.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she greeted. "I am Professor McGonagall. In just a few minutes the sorting will begin, but first I need to go over a few things with you. Firstly, you will be sorted into one of three houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Your house will be like your family and any rule breaking will lose you house points. However, any triumphs will gain you points. Your house will act like your family and at the end of the year the house with the most points will win the house cup. Now then, I will just go to see if the rest of the school are ready for you so I suggest that you all smarten yourselves up whilst I am gone," with that she walked out of the room, leaving the first years in complete silence. Everyone was wondering the same thing: how were they to be sorted? Sirius glanced at James who seemed to have lost some of his usual colour and Peter was positively trembling. On the other hand Remus seemed quite calm and composed about the fact that they were about to make a fool of themselves in front of the whole school. Why didn't I think to ask my parents how they were placed in Slytherin? Sirius thought to himself. It was such a simple and easy question yet he had failed to ask it.

The silence stretched on and on as each person fantasized to themselves about being the one to bring down the troll that they were sure they were about to be faced with, or tried to remember spells from their flicked through text books that might come in handy during the sorting. Sirius merely stood there, eyeing the people around him and keeping a close eye on Severus who seemed much paler and weedier than normal. He was standing next to the ginger girl who Sirius still didn't know the name of.

Just when Sirius could bear it no longer, the door opened again to reveal professor McGonagall. She simply looked around at everyone before ordering them to follow her which they all did without question. On trembling legs Sirius walked forwards in order to follow James out of the room and find out how he would be sorted into his house.


End file.
